South Korea’s First Mass Produced EV to Drive in from Renault Stables

South Korea will be facing a rapid decrease in emission rates from 2013 and Renault plans to do its bid to quell the menace. The French major will produce EVs on a large scale in the Asian nation, so as to decrease pollution as well as amass fame – along with profit.

Renault-Samsung CEO Francois Provost has been quoted as saying that the all-electric SM3 will be launched initially. The electric SM3 will travel up to 160 kilometers on a 250 kg lithium-ion battery that can be replaced through a fully unmanned battery station in under 90 seconds.

Comparing his experience from the group’s Russian operations as chief of operations, Provost said he believes in his team’s capability to meet goals set for electric vehicles as it competes with Kia’s EV Ray due for mass production also in 2013. He said:

“I’m very much impressed with the high skills of workers here at the Busan plant and other parts of operations. Almost every day, I get requests from Europe and South Americato transfer Korean engineers.”

In 2008, Renault-Nissan signed a deal to mass produce electric cars for an initiative inIsraelwithBetter Place, a US company developing new non-petroleum based transport infrastructure. Renault aimed to mass market 10,000 to 20,000 cars a year inIsrael.

Renault also developed exchangeable batteries for the project. Renault also collaborated with Better Place to produce a network of all-electric vehicles and thousands of charging stations inDenmark, which started its operation in 2011.

The Renault Fluence ZE, was selected for theIsraelproject, being the first zero-emission vehicle with a switchable battery, with trials in 2010 undertaken with the Renault Laguna.